Navigating Cybersecurity Challenges in IoT and OT Environments

Alexandra's career spans infrastructure, delivery, and mergers & acquisitions, combining technical insights with strategic thinking to address challenges. Alexandra delivers change via actionable business outcomes, driving innovation while prioritising risk management and resilience. She is excited by the transformative potential of technology in Real Estate, exploring how digital advancements can enhance the physical environment. Alexandra remains true to her infrastructure roots with a commitment to organisational stability and security, ensuring that transformation aligns with these core values without compromise.

Chris Vintinner is a product leader with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of building automation, smart technologies, and digital transformation. As Product Line Manager at Distech Controls, he drives the roadmap and strategy for the company’s innovative building management software platform—helping facility owners and integrators deliver smarter, more efficient, and more secure buildings.

Chris’s career spans hands-on system design, technical leadership, and product strategy roles, with a consistent focus on open protocols, scalable architectures, and connected building ecosystems. He has worked closely with clients across commercial real estate, healthcare, and education sectors to deploy future-ready building systems that reduce energy usage, improve occupant comfort, and strengthen operational resilience.

He brings a practical lens to cybersecurity—applying high-level principles and best practices for protecting building systems in an increasingly connected world. His work emphasizes secure integration across OT and IT domains, including network segmentation, identity management, and standards-based communication protocols.

Chris holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University and continues to advocate for thoughtful, standards-driven innovation in the built environment.

Pook-Ping Yao is Chief Technology Officer at Optigo Networks, a leader in making smart buildings more efficient, responsive, and connected through innovative networking solutions. With deep expertise in networking and smart building systems, Ping is recognized internationally for his extensive knowledge of communication protocols, particularly BACnet, which is foundational in modern smart buildings. His technical leadership ensures that building owners and operators seamlessly integrate and optimize complex networks, enhancing performance, reliability, and operational insight.

Ping is an authoritative voice in the smart building industry, regularly speaking and writing about the advancements and challenges of integrating cutting-edge technology, cybersecurity, and building system protocols into commercial infrastructure. His practical approach helps organizations effectively navigate these complex areas, streamline troubleshooting, and enhance network performance monitoring. By simplifying the complexities associated with the adoption and operation of smart building technologies, Ping empowers organizations to achieve greater connectivity, security, and efficiency in the spaces where we live, work, and play.

Nick is a Senior TPM at Google, where he focuses on networking and cyber security for IOT & OT technology. With over 11 years of experience at Google, Nick has a deep understanding of delivering and managing large scale networking programs.

At Google, Nick is responsible for cyber security programs for Real estate and workplace services (REWS). He is passionate about enabling teams to make them successful when implementing change, and has led global programs to implement large scale deployments of networking technology.

He is eager to share insights on how companies should think about the right way for them to build out their cyber security platforms.

Harri John is the Head of Digital Transformation at CBRE, where she helps clients navigate the complex world of real estate technology. She works with clients to identify the right solutions, shape their roadmaps, and implement sustainable change.

She specializes in a business-led approach to create compelling business cases for digital investments, helping clients—from investors and developers to occupiers—understand the value of adopting new technologies, starting with an understanding of the people.

As a leader at the intersection of the physical, human, and digital, Harri helps clients identify the best digital solutions to enhance real estate portfolios, developments, and workplaces. She has deep expertise in translating a business's needs into a clear digital strategy, ensuring that technology serves as a core pillar to drive business value and transform the built environment.